The Event Marketing Trio: ClickFunnels, Facebook Ads

When it comes to marketing live events using Facebook and Clickfunnels I have learnt so much over the last few years, what works, what DOESN’T (oh that was expensive) and how to make sure that you get the best possible outcome.

The major takeaways I have had is that combining these three things has allowed me to generate some pretty powerful results, like spending $400 in ads to generate over $40,000 in front end sales at an event or helping a client generate more leads in a day for his event than he had in the last 6 months.

Why Do Live Events?

Let’s start at the beginning, why should we do live events, let alone market them?

Marketo published an awesome guide on event marketing, and they listed the top 4 reasons for an event;

1. Branding and awareness
2. Generating leads
3. Engaging with prospects and existing customers
4. Educating attendees

I think they missed the biggest one, though… SALES!

Live events are the perfect selling platform for you to get your product or service out there, as long as you are confident enough to present in front of people.

What Type Of Events?

Now, what sort of live events are we talking about here?

Well, I have marketed events that range from Free – all the way up to $4,000. Just today I was checking the analytics for a $4,000 event we are promoting and we had to sales for $0.76 each.

Now that is absolutely ridiculous but it just shows what is possible when you get things setup correctly.

For the purpose of this article I’m going to focus on the lower end events, the free or under $100 events as that’s the easiest way to get started and really, it can give you the best ROI if you can sell as well.

So let’s break it down into three easy to follow sections.

Event Setup

This can cost you thousands of dollars if you do not do it properly.

I recommend if you are just getting started to start with a free event, the reason being that the biggest thing people look at is the opportunity cost.

Is your event going to be more beneficial for me than anything else I could be doing?

If you factor in money at this point in time and you are not very well known them you compound the opportunity cost, and it pushes your audience away rather than bringing them in.

So my recommended setup would be a free front-end live event.

Now if you want (and clickfunnels is amazing for this) you can add in a VIP upsell for anywhere up to $47, giving them front row seating, some added training or some products, the choice is yours.

The benefit of the VIP option is that it allows you to create an ‘event within an event’ which was listed as the number 1 tip from Inc Magazines new rules of event marketing;

“We try to create an event within an event where we can touch a consumer one-on-one, where you can engage directly, and teach them about your product, and do so by interacting in a quality way. I just got back from Sundance, and we were doing VIP and celebrity shuttling to events in our vehicles, and the goal for us is to create an event within the vehicle.”

I love using the template Dark Local Lander for several reasons, but because it is setup with a video optin, it’s something that anyone can use and you cannot really go wrong.

Even if you don’t customize it, and you just use it the way it is then you are still off to a roaring start.

The second reason to use that template or any of the video templates is more psychological.

We are asking people to come to an event, where they will be interacting with us in person, hearing us talk, seeing us walk and basically seeing us for who we really are.

In preparation for this video is going to be key to the optin here – because if they don’t like us on video, chances are they won’t like us in real life, so we are better off NOT having them at an event!

It can be a little harsh, but it ensures that the marketing dollars you spend generate you a result. I am all about ROI.

The Tools & Tech

You will need a few bits and pieces to ensure that you have set yourself up for success with your event;

• Landing Page Software – Clickfunnels (obviously)
• Autoresponder Software –Infusionsoft, AWeber or MailChimp will do
• Event management Software – https://www.dynamicsync.com/

If you are using Infusionsoft I highly recommend Dynamicsync – it allows you to segment your lists by those that attended, didn’t attend, registered, even those that buy and don’t buy which becomes super powerful in the follow-up, plus it allows for text message on registration as well – which dramatically increases attendance rates.

Facebook Ads

Whether you are running an online event or a live event – the structure is mostly the same. A great example of a simple ad is below from Robin Sharma;

Now I understand that this isn’t an event ad – but this has all the principles that you need to be able to create a world class ad and get people to your event.

Designing Your Ad Copy

You can see on this ad that there is CONGRUENCY, which is key – he is only talking about 1 thing, the free training/webinar.The copy mentions the FREE (always use capitals for free).

Training, the image says FREE WEBINAR and the key line at the bottom mentions the upcoming training. This is key to an effective ad. You need to tell people specifically what it is they can

The copy mentions the FREE (always use capitals for free) Training, the image says FREE WEBINAR and the key line at the bottom mentions the upcoming training.This is key to an effective ad. You need to tell people specifically what it is they can

This is key to an effective ad.You need to tell people specifically what it is they can

You need to tell people specifically what it is they can expect, if it is a free live event say; FREE LIVE EVENT. If it is a paid event say; LIVE EVENT and then later on, mention the ticket price.

I personally would have used more ad copy for an event but you can go short form as well.If I was to write longer copy I would have included;

If I was to write longer copy I would have included;

• Benefits of attending
• Outcome of attending
• Who the event is for (obviously in this case not needed as he makes it clear it’s for ‘game changers’

Setting Your Budget

When it comes down to your budget, you are doing extremely well if you are getting conversions for under $20 for a free event – scale it if that is the case.

Average would be $50 per conversion for a free event so if you hit those numbers you are doing well!

For paid events the minimum you should expect is to pay 100% of the ticket price to acquire that lead. If you are worried about making money on the front end, you are doing an event for the wrong reason, so I would rethink doing one to begin with.

Nailing Your Targeting

Targeting your audience could take us about another ten pages, so here’s just a simple tip – I call it WRF.

W – what do your prospective clients watch?

R – what do your prospective clients read?

F – who do your prospective clients follow?

This should get you kick started on your targeting!

If you want more information on ads and setting up campaigns check out our blog at the end of the post where we have a ton of free resources too.

In The Event (Ie. Sales!)

After running a successful marketing campaign, it all comes down to event experience and the sales you can expect.

The screenshots below are for an event where we had a $17 upgrade to VIP – to help cover some of the marketing expense.

Now if you HAVEN’T sold before I wouldn’t spend as much money as we did on the event, start with smaller crowds and make your way up.

So you will see below we had 107 people register for the event, of which 21 upgraded to VIP. From that, we had 54 attend the event and made $26,000 in sales.

Now most people would leave it there, but because you are reading this blog I know you are a bit more savvy than the normal punter, and we know that we never only have 1 sale opportunity, that is the beauty of a funnel!

The lifetime customer value was actually $11,000 for this client. So after making 26 sales it meant that the ACTUAL total value of sales was $286,000.

Now I don’t know about you, but I would spend $1872.50 EVERY day of the week to make $286,000 in my business.

This is the most important section of the whole process as if you cannot sell, well you won’t be producing numbers as I shared above.

So let’s recap, the 3 steps;

1. Event Setup – creating your lander and everything that goes with it
2. Facebook Ads – tell your audience what you are doing and show them why they NEED to spend time with you
3. Sales – show them value, then ask them to spend money with you

Overall marketing and running events can be ridiculously profitable, but there is also a ton of downside too as there can be many things that can happen outside of your control.

Personally, it’s fun and exhilarating and you should through your hat in the ring at least once – you might be surprised of the outcome.

My question for you today is, have you ever tried event advertising before? If you have, what’s been your biggest struggle I can help you with? Leave a comment below and I’ll get to your questions.